We focus on the problem of shock wave formation in a model of blood flow along an elastic artery. We analyze the conditions under which this phenomenon can appear and we provide an estimation of the instant of shock formation. Numerical simulations of the model have been conducted using the Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method. The results are consistent with certain phenomena observed by practitioners in patients with arteriopathies, and they could predict the possible formation of a shock wave in the aorta.

Figure 4.
Formation of a shock wave with a beat-like boundary condition. The discontinuity at $x = 20$ is due to the nature of the DG method, which provides two values in the frontier between elements.